Table of Contents
Title Page
Pretext
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
AFTERWORD
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
I wrote these first two books purely for the thrill that only imagination can bring.
I published them in hopes that others might feel that same thrill.
Raf Herega warily scanned his surroundings before pausing to check on the progress his siblings were making. His brother Beow led their two mules a short distance behind him, but Raf didn’t see his sister Teheba immediately. He’d completed another scan of their surroundings when he spotted her jogging around a boulder further down the hill.
“Teh, find anything?” Raf called.
Teheba shook her head. “Goat track,” she called back. Nothing of interest then. They were after something far more interesting—and valuable—than goats.
Raf once again forged ahead. They were almost to the crest of the hill, and he was eager to see what lay beyond it—what rumor claimed was beyond it.
There was no trail where they traveled. No, they’d left the trail further east, where the pass was. The mountains here were bleak and uninviting, with massive rocky crags and a chilling climate. The vegetation was scraggly, tough, and sparse. The unprepared were quickly claimed by the mountains; exposure and wild animals were the most common dangers.
Raf loved it.
Civilization had its perks, of course, but there was something about the rawness of the untamed landscape that appealed to him. But that wasn’t why they’d come.
Raf reached the top of the hill and stopped, staring at the adjacent hillside with awe, anticipation, and a little greed.
A spherical crater scarred the side of the mountain. A fiery blast had carved away an entire ridge, leaving the remaining rock twisted and glassy. Raf barely noticed the damage; his eyes were locked on what stood within the scar. In the exact epicenter of the crater stood something like a rounded pillar. It was about seven feet tall and shaped like an elongated egg. The details were impossible to pick out even from the edge of the crater, but it seemed to be made of some polished black substance. It gleamed dully in the ambient light.
A gust of wind blasted up the hillside, shaking the scraggly weeds on the ground and blowing dirt in Raf’s eyes. Squinting against the grit, Raf untied the scarf from his neck and wrapped it around his face, leaving a slit for his eyes but leaving the rest of the fabric to catch the dust.
Teheba caught up first, having passed their brother and the mules.
“It’s warm,” she said in surprise. It was true, and the unnatural heat radiating from the crater on the mountainside was what was causing the strange gusts of wind in the area—it was likely responsible for the moody weather all over this area of the mountains.
“We knew it would be,” Raf replied mildly. The rumors they’d collected had said so.
“Should be,” Teheba corrected him. Another gust suddenly blasted them, and she caught a mouthful of dirt.
“Feh, peh, that’s nasty.” Teheba shot her brother’s scarf a look and quickly mimicked his face-protecting garb.
“I don’t suppose anyone else wants to take a turn leading the mules.” Beow had finally caught up to them. Teheba rolled her eyes at Raf but they let him catch up. Raf even decided to take pity on his brother and took the reins of one of the mules from him.
“What are we doing way out here, anyways? There can’t possibly be anything valuable this far out here,” Beow complained. The view of the crater clearly hadn’t impressed him.
“We already told you,” Teheba said.
Beow glared. “No, you said, ‘Beow, go get supplies. Beow, go do this, Beow, go do that.’ Never a word of explanation.”
“We always explain. You’re just too busy complaining to hear.” Teheba smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile.
Beow opened his mouth for another complaint, but Raf spoke first. “I’ll tell you. You may not have gotten the whole picture.”
Beow accepted the compromise, but Teheba just shook her head, smirked, and trotted ahead.
“We’re chasing new rumors on that story we heard two years ago about the crater in the mountainside.” Raf waved at said crater. “The original rumors said there was something in the center of the crater, but that it was so hot that if you could see it, you were close enough to get a sunburn from it.”
“Well I can see it, and it’s barely warm,” Beow said.
Raf nodded. “True. The latest rumor said you can get much closer now.”
“So what? It’s just a crater.” Beow scowled at the blackened mark on the landscape.
“Oh, come on, Beow. Look at it. Anything like that has to be caused by magic,” Raf said, smiling at his brother’s pessimism.
“So a couple mages duked it out here two years ago. They’re long gone now. Although why anyone would come out here is beyond me. I’d much rather stay near a city.” Beow rubbed grit out of his eyes, but he still hadn’t wrapped a scarf around his face like his siblings had.
“Teheba would agree, but where there’s money to be made, we go.”
“I don’t see how there might be money here,” Beow complained.
“There might not be…but for it to still be hot after two years, there has to at least be magic here still. Maybe an artifact. Can you imagine the money we could make off something like that?” Raf could almost count the individual gold pieces in his head.
“Hmph. Sounds like a pretty big if,” Beow said.
Raf grinned at his brother. “Aw, come on, Beow. This one is riskier than most of our gigs, but that’s why I decided to wait until after a successful hunt to pursue it.”
Now Beow lit up. “Yeah, I can’t believe how much those bookworms paid for those funny pieces of metal. Who’d’ve thought.”
“Where magic is involved, there’s money to be made.” Raf grinned again.
“Dad would be proud,” Beow said. “We’ve made more money than he ever did.”
Raf gave a tight nod. “We’re scavengers through and through. Tough as a badger.”
Beow grinned back. “Resourceful as a rat.”
“Clever as a crow,” Raf finished. It was the family motto, after all. “You should’ve seen Teheba bully her source, too. It barely even cost her an ale to get him to regale her with every detail he knew. The fool.”
“Men in taverns are always trying to impress Teh,” Beow said, sounding disgusted. He glanced at his sister and determined she was out of earshot. “If they really knew her, they wouldn’t.”
“Hey, don’t speak ill of our sister. She’s just smarter than most. And more ruthless. If she hears you smack-talking, she’ll get back at you,” Raf said.
“I ain’t scared of her,” Beow said sullenly.
Raf snorted. “Anyone who can match wits with the best and worst of humanity ought to be feared. Even if she’s our sister.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Beow said.
Raf decided it was time for a subject change. “Look, Teheba stopped up ahead. Let’s pick up the pace and see what she fo
und.”
The brothers persuaded the mules to move a little faster and caught up in a minute or two.
“Did you see something?” Beow asked eagerly when Teheba was in earshot.
Teheba shook her head. “No. But look at that ascent. We’ll have to tie the mules here and go on foot.”
Beow scowled.
“You’re right,” Raf said. He glanced around, but a small bush was the only thing he could see that looked like it might serve as a hitching post. He took the mule’s reins and tied them to the scraggly bit of vegetation.
Beow followed suit, giving the reins a little tug to test the give and frowning. “It won’t take much for the mules to pull the whole bush out of the ground if they try.”
“We shouldn’t be gone long,” Raf said. “It’ll serve in the meantime. Help me pack some bags.”
Beow grumbled unintelligibly.
Teheba supervised. “Rope, shovels, water skins, and a bite to eat just in case. I don’t want to have to scale that thing more than once if we don’t have to.”
“I have done this before,” Beow complained. Teheba didn’t comment.
A moment later, Beow held a bag out to her. “Here’s yours.”
“You know, someone should probably scale up ahead, just to make sure there’s nothing unexpected up there,” Teheba said. “I’ll volunteer. I’m the lightest, so I’ll climb fastest.”
“Okay, take your bag,” Beow said.
“I’ll climb faster without it. You take it for me.” Teheba didn’t even look at him.
“I ain’t carrying your bag!” Beow objected. Now Teheba looked at him, and Beow shrank back slightly at her stare.
Teheba reached for the bag, but only to push it back towards him. “What, you don’t want to make up for burning breakfast this morning? I was trying to be nice, but if you’re going to be that way…”
“Oh, come on! It was slightly blackened on one side, but it tasted fine!” Beow objected, but his bravado soon withered under her glare. “Why do you always gotta be like this?”
Teheba ignored him and made for the incline, scaling the incline easily. Raf knew that with anyone else, she would have finished the exchange with some sugar, to smooth things over again, but Teheba knew she could get away without it when it came to Beow.
Before long, Teheba and Raf were at the top of the lip of the crater. Beow still struggled up behind them, burdened as he was with two awkward packs.
“It’s still not as hot as the rumormongers claimed,” Raf observed as Beow finally drew even with them.
“It’s barely hot at all,” Teheba agreed. “Warm, but not hot. So either their sources were superstitious and overreacting, or something’s changed.”
“Let’s hope for the latter, or else there’s likely nothing here,” Raf said. Beow scowled.
“There’d better be something here after all the trouble we went to,” Beow grumbled. His siblings ignored him again.
“Pass me the rope—I’m going down first,” Teheba said, holding out a hand. With a few more grumbles, Beow dug out the rope and the three of them secured the line to some rocks.
Raf secured his own line to a jutting rock before carefully picking his way down the side of the crater. Really, the rope was only necessary for the first short section, and Raf untied himself when the crater bottom become almost level.
Now inside the blackened scar, Raf realized it was much larger than he’d first thought. Easily as large as a city block. He felt a hint of trepidation, but it only added to the thrill of what they might discover. Still, he was forced to keep his eyes on his feet so he wouldn’t slip on the places where the rock had been melted so shiny-smooth that it was slippery.
He’d reached the pillar before he knew it, and he was still staring at it when shock when Beow finally joined them. All three of them stared at the pillar for some time before anyone spoke.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Raf admitted. Beow scowled.
The pillar was semi-transparent, and inside was a man. He was young, in his twenties, Raf guessed, and he seemed to be asleep. It looked like he’d been suspended in the air when the pillar had encased him, for his head and shoulders were angled slightly forward, almost like he were slumping. He didn’t look particularly peaceful either, although it was difficult to see much. His general outline was visible, but except for a few clearer spots here and there, it was murky within.
“Is he dead?” Beow asked.
“I don’t think so,” Teheba said. Raf glanced at his sister and knew she was trying to figure out how this turn of events could profit them, and she was coming up short.
The wind kicked up—it was unnaturally gusty in the crater—and they watched a fine mist of the black substance get blown away. It seemed that the pillar was eroding very slowly, like an hour-glass with the time running out. Raf wondered what would happen when it reached zero.
Teheba reached out and touched the pillar; the black substance fell away like loose sand beneath her fingertips. She put her fingertips to her nose, then tasted it.
“Peh. It’s like ash, but different. Magic-made, no doubt,” she reported.
The gusts picked up into a full wind that whirled around them and the pillar. The air shaved layers of the pillar away to swirl around them, causing all three to raise their arms to shield their faces. Beow suffered particularly from the wind-borne assault without the additional protection of a scarf. He stepped back several paces, where the air was clearer. In a moment, Teheba and Raf were forced back a pace as well.
As abruptly as the wind had kicked up, it died again. Then Raf saw that the wind had blown away enough of the pillar to uncover the man inside.
“Oi!” Raf shouted the warning and stepped forward at once, catching the man who’d been in the pillar as he began to fall forward.
“Oof, gimme a hand,” Raf said. Teheba already had a steadying hand on him and moved to help stabilize the young man. Raf caught his balance and saw the young man’s eyes open; for a moment, all he saw was fire, but then his eyes cleared to an ordinary brown and rolled back into his head. The young man turned into dead weight as he passed clear out, leaving Raf and Teheba to lay him out on the ground.
Teheba surveyed the young man pessimistically, and Raf knew what she saw. She’d hoped that there’d be a reward for “rescuing” this guy, but those plain clothes didn’t bode well for a rich family or patronage. His clothing was tough but plain, down to his long brown coat. His grooming didn’t mark him as any kind of nobility either—while he was clean-shaven, his brown hair was unkempt and cut in a commoner’s fashion. He was young and in relatively good shape, but he had a light build and certainly didn’t have the marks of a laborer or warrior on him.
“Well, Beow, I think you were right. This was a waste of time,” she said.
“Let’s go then,” Beow said with his customary scowl.
“We ain’t leaving him here,” Raf said.
“Why not? He ain’t worth anything,” Beow objected. “And we owe him nothing, that’s for sure. You’re always saying time is money. We’re wasting money. Let’s go.”
“Settle down, Beow. We came all this way, we can’t just leave him here,” Raf said, his tone suggesting that Beow should stop talking. Beow ignored the suggestion and opened his mouth to argue, but Teheba cut him off.
“Raf’s right. We should at least stay until he wakes up. He’s probably a mage, right? Maybe someone wants him back. If there’s a chance this trip isn’t a total waste, we should take it. Make yourself useful and go get blankets from our packs back with the mules,” she ordered.
“This is—” Beow began to object.
“Go.” Raf’s order made Beow scowl but he turned to obey.
“Wait, what’s that?” Beow suddenly said. Raf followed his gaze to what was left of the pillar. Beow trotted over to it and brushed away the ashy substance. The slight wind scattered the ash away.
“What did you find?” Teheba asked. Raf stayed by the unknown man’s sid
e, but he craned his neck to see.
“Looks like a book,” Beow said. He lifted the object up and brushed it off; the ash was like so much dust, but the book seemed fully intact.
“Magic?” Teheba asked with keen interest.
“Gotta be, to have survived all this.” Beow waved around at the crater before focusing on the book again. He opened it, but scowled at the contents.
“What’s it say?” Raf asked.
Still scowling, Beow tilted the book in his direction as he walked over. Raf tried to read the pages, but the symbols looked like nonsense. In fact, when he wasn’t directly looking at the page, he couldn’t even remember what the symbols looked like.
Only Teheba looked happy. “Definitely magic.”
Beow perked up. “Think we can get lots of money for it?”
“Tough to say,” Teheba replied. “If it’s actually useful—that is, if anyone can understand it—we could get a lot. If not… Well, we’d probably have to search a long while for a buyer, but we’d probably be able to still get some decent coin for it.”
“I’ll carry it,” Beow volunteered.
“You still have to go get those blankets,” Teheba said. Beow barely even scowled as he turned and climbed back up the side of the crater.
Meanwhile, Raf turned his gaze back to the unconscious man. He touched the man’s wrist lightly and found he was feverishly hot to touch. Hopefully the man would wake soon, or getting back to civilization was going to get complicated.
Esset woke with a pounding headache. He groaned and tried to open his eyes, but the brightness of the bleak grey sky above caused him to squeeze them shut again. When he heard someone nearby, he tried again, to the same effect.
“He’s awake,” a female voice said beside him, and Esset heard footsteps. This time when Esset opened his eyes, he managed to keep them open by squinting against the light and turning his head to the side so the glare wasn’t so bad.
Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) Page 1
